Transcript of Hour 2: Dan Pays For Everything

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stukatz podcast. So forgive me for a second as I do some media talk with Greg Cody, who I know cares about some of the same things that I do and makes a distinction between what it is that he does for a living and what, for example, something like Zaz, what Zaz does for a living when it comes to priding yourself in being a journalist. When I said earlier in the show that the media is dead, it is not dying, it is dead. What you're seeing happen with billionaires being able to change something as historic as even CBS News or the fighting of late night hosts or the under coverage by the mainstream media of Trump's NSPM7 labels, Common Beliefs of Terrorism Indicators to be Anti-Christian, Anti-American, Anti-Capitalism, get very little reporting in the mainstream press because it's broken. Closer to home, I've seen a mayor in Miami recently shamed by social media because police officers were sent to someone's home for having an opinion on Facebook. We're living in some times where the media matters and your ability to get credible reporting in places that are now compromised.

We're going to see it all over the place and much smaller in sports. I want to put in front of you some sound from a heartbroken Ariel Hoane, who's listening to Max Kellermann. Now, Ariel does one of the most extraordinary jobs I have ever seen in the history of the sports journalism business, where he is bringing ethics to a sport that has none to to a sport that doesn't want him around or respect what he does. He's still built an empire amid a bunch of cavemen because they know he's always interested in the truth and incredible fair reporting. He's an extraordinary married journalist, even though he doesn't have the traditional training. And so he's listening to Dana White's Boxing Telecast that features Max Kellermann, and he's listening to a panel of boxing analysts who should be the best in the business, and they feel bought by the way that they are shilling a product that's not worth it because Dana White, as you've seen, has some power, and the billionaires can now push around media. Dana White has been trying to do this to Hauwani for a really long physically being threatening to him with him and his goons because he doesn't have an appreciation for what Ariel Hauwani does.

And now his sport is going to the White House because the platform works. If everyone's fake news, everything is less real. He's accusing a hero, Max Kellermann, a legitimate hero of being bought and paid for by the Dana White promotion because of how he's shilling on behalf of a product that Ariel Hauwani has the credibility to sell you. That's substandard. What you're watching is not matching the words coming from one of my heroes. Listen to Ariel Hauwani on his own show, going after somebody. He doesn't want to go after Max Kellermann. He's admired... Max Kellermann is a hero to Ariel Hauwani as someone who was on boxing cable newscasts at 14 years old talking honestly about the dirtiest sport.

What the hell happened to Max Kellermann? Yeah, I had a feeling. What the hell happened to Max Kellermann? There was once a time early in my career where I was telling my parents, I want to be the Max Kellermann of MMA. There's a way to be appreciative about the opportunity. There's a way to hype it up without shilling and going over the top. When he starts the broadcast saying that he has literally been waiting for this moment his entire life to have someone like Dana White come in and save boxing, it feels over the top. When he starts the main card saying the same thing, he said the same thing twice, it feels over the top. When throughout the broadcast, he is continuously talking about TKO and Dana White and nick Khan, and all these people that he has close personal relationships with. Nick Khan was his agent. I get it. He's appreciative. That's his guy. I get it. The loyalty. I appreciate that. I get it. You can do that without going over the top, without sounding like a shill without hurting your credibility. When you compare Callum Walsh to Roy Jones Jr, you are hurting your credibility.

He was the guy who would get up there and give you a soliloquy on HBO Boxing and tell you like it is to see this form of him. Now I know he works for a promoter, but you could still be that guy and work for the promoter. You could still do that. This is over the top. This is over the top, and dare I say, unlistenable.

Hawani, I don't think people realize how hard it is to do everything he's done in his career. But specifically, he just called the Jake Paul fight and added a credibility to it without impacting any of his own, without undermining a production that was an actual scam. Ariel Hawani gave none of his integrity over to what was a circus event of nonsense without anyone imputing Ariel Hauwani on the job he did. He's unbelievably qualified to say what he's saying. I did not see what happened with Max Kellermann. But when he makes the accusation, I simply believe it because he's the one making it, and he doesn't want to make it against Kellermann. He is being appalled watching somebody do infomercial on behalf of sports. I'm asking you, as people in this room who know I care about journalism, there are a lot of silly conflicts. Greg Olson shouldn't be calling a Carolina playoff game, but I don't mind. It's a silly thing. I also don't mind what Tom braided is doing. Don't care about that stuff. In this sport, which is the dirtiest, which has a history of Dana White's wandering over and using all of the people involved as labor so that he can get drunk at a blackjack table and lose hundreds of thousands of dollars while not paying his fighters.

To see Ariel Hawani come after Max Kellermann surprised me, at least least in part because he doesn't want to do it. What are your thoughts as I tie a whole bunch of things together on the journalism of it, Greg?

Well, what is Max Kellermann's relationship financially with Dana White? That's the only question that I have.

He's being paid to do that event.

Ariel is being paid to do the Jake Paul event, too. Ariel is not working for free. Journalists don't work for free.

I understand. But if Dana White in any way is paying Max Kellermann, then Max Kellermann has probably an obligation to put the best possible slant on whatever he's talking about.

Are you good with that, though? Are you good with all of it being an infomercial?

No. I don't think Max is a journalist in this scenario. I think he's an analyst who's a television personality and approaches his job differently than Ariel. Now, I did not watch the broadcast. I certainly don't know enough about boxing to seize on the comparisons he's making as being ridiculous, nor do I know enough about the boxing business to doubt whether or not Max Kellermann is actually grateful for someone like Dana White trying to come in and shake things up. It did surprise me because those are two guys in the fight game that have a respect, and to see them squabbling like this publicly, well, it's just one way right now, is surprising to me, especially since Ariel laid it out. You can do this to a certain degree. Throughout my mind, the entire time that clip was going, I was like, This is lofty coming from a dude that was around a Jake Paul fight, but he did toe the line.

I think that Max Kellermann is entitled to think more of Dana White than you do, to have a better opinion of Dana White. But if there's a financial relationship there, then Max Kellerman stops being a journalist, stops being an independent journalist.

Okay, but look, Max Kellermann is incredibly credible on boxing. And no, he's not allowed to think that Dana White is going to come and save boxing. That's not a credible opinion coming from somebody. He's waiting his whole life. That's not credible. I don't know enough about it.

If Max Kellerman tells me that, I listen.

Can you think both things? Can you respect Max Kellermann and think that he's not entitled to think more of Dana White?

Well, when Ariel Hauwani makes the accusation, how can you not arrive at the conclusion, given what I just set up for you, that Max has bought and paid for, even though I don't have the facts to tell you whether Max has bought and paid for. I, like Mike, am ignorant about how all of this came down. I'm believing Ariel only because he's the one making the allegation and because I know he doesn't want to be making it.

Yeah. See, that's it for me. I totally believe Ariel, everything that he's saying there, because it'd be like if I came out and I was really offended and upset with things that Eddie Vetter said, even if you didn't know anything about what Pearl Jam is doing right now and you didn't see the clip, you would know if I am coming out and I am being critical and I'm hurt by the things that Eddie Vetter said, you're probably going to believe my stance there because I don't want to have this opinion the same way that Ariel probably does not want to be saying these things.

Ariel Hoane is watching that excited about what the broadcasters are going to do with the opportunity, and he's telling everyone who doesn't know better, Hey, all of this smells fishy.

Is it safe to apply the scrutiny that Ariel has this ongoing thing with Dana? Probably plays a part. And that this is more about Dana. That's who he's actually going. And he's just disappointed that someone that he's looked up to is aligning himself with Dana and throwing some praise on it.

We can talk to Ariel about this because I'd argue that Ariel aspires to objectivity even when it's hard. Ariel doesn't tell willingly the stories of how Dana White has bullied him. He's aspiring to an objective, fair journalism standard.

Right, but we're aware of them.

But we are aware of them because he's been asked questions where biases would appear. But the part I'm telling you that very few people have an appreciation for how Ariel Hawani has done that job that particular gutter that doesn't want him there. Dana White has never had any use for how Ariel Hoane does his job, and Ariel Hoane bends over backward to be a thousand times fairer to Dana White than Dana White ever considers about being fair to Ariel Hoane. Ariel Hoane, first and foremost, cares about the combat sports. After that, he cares about how they're presented to the public. And he smelt bullshit. And he smelt bullshit bought with the credibility of Max Kellermann. It disappointed him. He brought that to our attention. I'm asking the rest of the audience, do you care at all? Do you care about any of this? Or is it just, Max is a television entertainer. Who cares whether he's bought and paid for? I don't care. I just want to enjoy my sport with the very credible Max Kellermann lending his name to it.

Can I ask you if it wasn't Max Kellermann, it's any other boxing analyst in that spot? He's the best. No, I get it. Max is the best. I get it. But would Ariel, even if Ariel He felt that what Analyst X is saying is paid for and he's being a shill, and this is unlistenable, would Ariel even be talking about this right now? The reason I'm asking is because it's just especially hurtful to Ariel because he loved Max Kellermann.

And boxing.

It's just not surprising to me that if Max Kellermann is on the payroll of Dana White, that he would be very complementary to him. If I'm putting it on a local level, if you're paid by the Miami Heat or any other local team to be a broadcaster, naturally, you're going to be pro-heat, or your contract says, I can't be critical. I understand that. That is not true.

Okay, so- I might be pro-heat, But there is nothing in any contract anywhere that says, I can't say anything. I want to make that abundantly clear to everyone in the audience.

Just implied.

If you suddenly became the critical guy, would you hear from the heat about that?

I don't know. I've said critical things about individual players and where they've been at with their front office throughout this season, and I haven't heard a word.

Good. Good for you. I'm glad.

Okay, but that's not... You just accused him of something and then just gave him a good for you.

No, but it is different. I understand what Greg is saying, which is to say, obviously, I come in with a different slant as being part of that team broadcast. I try my best to take that hat off when I'm here, but obviously, my involvement changes the way that I break down the game.

Did you Can you physically take off a hat or glasses? It looked like you took off a hat. Okay, you took off a hat?

From here with two hands. I should have done it by the bill. Does the hat have the two drinky cups in it that you can have with the straws?

What's the hat look like?

I was thinking maybe a top hat.

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Don Levatard.

What do we got here? I got a Magnum condom. We won't get that out.

That's shocking. Stugatz.

Here's a picture of Christopher when he was three years old.

Right next to the condo. Yeah. That's a reminder. Never forget.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

It's a fascinating discussion. I wish I wasn't showing my ass on it. I don't know enough about these things. I find it curious that two people that I have immense respect for seem to have an issue here, but I don't feel comfortable weighing in. I don't know jack shit about boxing.

I think that if Pablo Torre was the example here, if Pablo joined a team broadcast for, say, the Clippers, and then all of a sudden, Pablo was spewing all sorts of positive information about Steve Ballmer or about the Memphis Grizzly's owner because he was joining the Grizzly's broadcast. That would be akin to what Ariel is trying to say here with what's going on with Dana White. This is someone who is an independent, respected journalist within boxing with Max. He is someone who was independent and respected, and then he's now lending his voice to a bias. It's not he started through that process and then became independent. I think that's the disappointment that Ariel is talking about. There was a standard that he expected, and now he views that Max has bought and paid for. And that's the disappointing part, specifically when it's someone like Dana White.

There is a credibility and a benefit of the doubt that we're extending to Ariel, too, just because we know him a little bit more than Max on this show. Not you, Dan. Me, I do. But I don't even know the boxer that he compared to Roy Jones Jr. And how that's offensive. But if Max wanted to turn around and say, You lended your credibility to that program on Netflix, I'd sit back and be like, Oh, that seems like a pretty good counterpunch.

Yeah, but he didn't do it this way. When Ariel is filing this criticism, we'll get, evidently, we have some sound here that is being put in the system of- Ariel hosted a show. In the system of Max Kellermann responding to this. But I'm going to, I'll move off the subject in a second because I really don't think people care about this the way that we do or I do. But I do care about boxing. I do care about how labor in that sport is forever contaminated and corrupted by how dirty the entirety of the sport is. I am also bothered that the wife punching Dana White is going to the White House now as a political figure of great power as he helps run Paramount, which has been running into the ground because they need young people, and now have a news department that you see what it's happening to because the media is susceptible. Hold on a second, Mike, before you come in here, because I want to get... I'll talk to Ariel about this.

I was just going to file an objection gratuitous.

I also love Max Kellermann and admire Max Kellermann and have never heard him have accused of anything like this by anybody credible, never mind as credible as Ariel Hauwani. And he's leaving ESPN after a couple of years in a dying climate where he's teeming with Rich Paul and Dana White for whatever it is that his next steps are because the media has died in a way that the Washington Post isn't sending baseball writers to spring training. That was a champion a few years ago. The Nationals were a World Series champion that's not being covered by the Washington Post beat writers this spring training. I don't think anybody cares about what it is that's happening when it's going to be harder and harder to discern between Ariel Hawani, Max Kellerman, and anyone else you care about in the media, Hey, Who's bought here and who isn't? That's my larger concern. I'm just using these two guys as avatars. I love the both of them. I respect the both of them. I know the both of them. I find shocking to see two people of this credibility, Ariel this disappointed. I do legitimately find it shocking because he's going at the very top of the food chain.

Max Kellermann is as credible as anyone who has ever talked about boxing, period.

Is he entitled, though, to have a financial relationship with Dana White? Or does that make you just totally write him off as someone not worthy of your respect? I don't know the answer to that.

All right, I'll try and get Max in the next couple of days. I'll try to get Ariel. Let's just listen to what Ariel is saying is Max Kellermann excessively gushing. Let's play the sound of that where people are... Now, Max, understand what's happened here, and I've not talked to Max about any of this recently. I've been trying to get a hold of Max, and so I don't know that these recent steps in Max Kellermann's career are interesting because ESPN paid for Max Kellermann to go away for a while, and so he did not talk sports for almost two years paid for by ESPN. Espn tried to do the same thing to us. I was worried about sitting out that amount of time and having the media change so much that we would be totally irrelevant if it was two straight years of silence. Max Kellermann, in what is a dying media climate with fewer and fewer of these jobs available, pops back up with Rich Paul and Clutch. I believe that's a Ringer production, right? That's a Bill Simmons production, and pops up in select boxing promotions and hears him talking about this fight. Let's listen to the sound.

I have literally been waiting for this for right now, my entire life since I was a little kid. There's never been a major league of boxing. It just hasn't existed. Hey, you know what they should do in football? Million football league. You're talking about the NFL. You're talking about Roger Goodell. You're talking about the NBA. There is no they in boxing. There never has been. Hey, you know what they should do in MMA? You're talking about Dana and the UFC. It is a brand that you know and trust. When you sit down and you watch a UFC event, you know the investment of your time. It was time well spent. And that's what we are hoping to do here at Zufa Boxing.

What are you laughing about? New addition.

I didn't even hear a word he said. The music, you were too busy. I was just cooling it now.

You were too busy jamming.

I wanted to go roller-skating.

I just wanted to hear Tess's voice. Nice.

What a booth. I'm going to watch that.

That was Ariel's point. Ariel's point in that clip is just this booth is as good as you can put together in boxing, and then they're just losing credibility.

Thanks for putting it on my radar. I think I'll catch the next card. You just like it when guys fight.

I will try to ask some of these questions in the next couple of days of Ariel Hoane because he was put off by it in a way that took me aback. Also taking me aback, speaking of sports media members, Stephen A. Smith has suggested that the Steelers should have hired Ryan Clark. Now, can you guys tell me? I'm paraphrasing here. I don't have the sound in front of me. It was fairly shocking, I believe, to see Mike McCarthy hired by the Steelers, even though we heard his name involved. No?

I don't know. It's shocking. Mike McCarthy was going to get another job. He's had success. He's won a Super Bowl, and he had several 12-win seasons.

Brian Billing won a Super Bowl, too. It's weird to me. Brian Billick had John Gruden's resume, and it's weird to me that Brian Billick hasn't gotten a second chance while Mike McCarthy, who is benign and is easy to rehire, ends up getting the job. But you make what of Stephen A. Smith saying that Ryan Clark should have had a shot at that job with no experience in head coaching. I don't understand.

I don't understand how that's serious. But I think Stephen A. Was being serious. He said it yesterday on first take. He said it right to Ryan Clark on the show, said, I think the Stealers should have given Ryan Clark a hard look as head coach.

He's never been a coach. A shot to his credibility, if you ask me.

He's never been a coach. He's never coached. I don't understand.

I've never heard Ryan Clark referred to as a head coaching candidate or on anybody's list or anything else.

Oh, but you guys say- You just said this with Philip Riddick. You guys say he's not, but Louis Riddick, look, man, this is funny, right? This part's interesting. Diana just gave away the game earlier, very quietly, when she said, I'm not calling anybody this time of year. I'm getting the calls. People want to hear, come out of my mouth, this is a candidate. Some of this is lazy enough to, yeah, hire Louis Riddick every time. I'm not disparaging Louis Riddick. But he's working in a front office, hasn't he? Yes, but he's just on television. Hire the broadcaster who's on television because that's someone who talks football, and therefore, I think he's more famous than the other guy who might have had an assistant coaching job at Wake Forest.

But I've heard Louis Riddick referred to as a potential NFL head coach in a way that I haven't with Ryan Hart.

General General manager, not head coach.

People have no idea how much this is driven by agents, how the people making the decisions are rep by agents that also rep coaches. If an agent really wants a client to become considered a star in that coaching rank, they will be. They will be a headman.

That part is interesting, having seen it from the only agent I've ever had, repped coaches and got James Franklin that deal and helped Urban Meyer get those deals. He was running a business that just helped these guys become important people. But as it relates to the Ariel Hauwani sound, very quietly in the middle of that, a name that no one seems to care about, that he threw out as part of this cabal that runs with Dana White is Nik Khan. These guys have in the wrestling program and the combat programming the things that Paramount wants. They've got young men. These guys are running a cabal. Nik Khan ran ESPN, got tired of using a whole... Nick Khan was basically the person who was producing all of the ESPN talent that Skipper was hiring. And then ESPN stopped doing that. And then the both of them went elsewhere. Because nick Khan used up all of Bristol. Nik Khan is responsible- Ariel was repped by nick Khan. I don't think that people hear in that sound that what Ariel is saying, that nick Khan is the middle of a cabal, that now is Netflix's wrestling program. Nick Khan is a beast in the business.

I don't think anybody knows I don't think that- Has been for decades plus. Multiple decades, and moved from taking all the money from ESPN to saying, Oh, it's new now. Let me run the WWE, and let me run Netflix, and let me run Paramount, because all of these institutions don't actually know how to get young people. Nik-con does. Wrestling in the combat sports. Have them fight. Fake or real? Have them fight.

You're fake.

You're excited about Royal Rumble?

Oh, my God, am I excited? Riyadh, Saudi, Royal Rumble this Saturday? Come on, Greg, get excited. It's the road to wrestle. I'm very excited for all of that.

What's wrong with sportswashing? Let's hide our blood money in fights. Let's do it. Nothing wrong with that. We all love Saudi Arabia now. Tennis matches, golf tournaments, put them all over there.

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He called me on my own podcast. He called me full of shit claiming that I'm faking interest in the solar eclipse. You do this.

You love to just get excited about everything.

Okay, Junior. I had to school you and explain to you.

He was going to take you to Augusta.

When I was 17 years old, Alan Cherry and I used to haunt the Buhler Planetarium.

This is the Dan Leventhal Show with the Stugatz.

Back to war, Rumbble. Dan, what do you think? Who do you think comes out of the men's rumble? Give us a pick.

Come on. I thought that they were going to go Magic Creative Content when Cody just started wandering to-We might. Bonesawing journalists. Right.

For the record, not with that at all. But also my view of all the Saudi thing, I think they've effectively flooded the zone there is also like, Where am I coming from, really? Where's my moral high ground as an American to be saying they're not doing something right? Got to clean up my own house here a little bit.

I don't get my morals from WWI. I know what I'm into. It doesn't offend me. I can separate the two. Okay. I get people who are mad about it. I understand, but I can separate the two.

You get why they're mad about the bone-sawing of journalists and why America also doesn't have the high ground?

Yeah, we're also treating journalists pretty poorly here. He understands it. Not quite bone-sawing yet, but we are killing protesters these days.

Fair comment.

I think the days of us looking down on our nose at other people- That's what I'm saying. Has been gone. And by other people- Doesn't this suck? I mean, wrestling fans.

Why is Greg Cody smirking? I don't know what you're smirking about. Is it that you're delighted by your own Saudi Arabia opinion? He's excited for the rumble. Is it because you don't want to talk about wrestling and are laughing? The smirk on your face when I keep saying, Bone the foresight of a journalist is weird to me and is part of how it is we're all complicit in the sports bloodwashing of the money. Right.

Well, it used to be an outrage, and five years later, it's not. I'm smiling at just how far we've come on that. And part of it, I think, is what Mike just said. He's not wrong. I mean, we have enough problems in this country where our moral high ground is not nearly as high as it used to be or should be.

But you pranced around with a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon of just a second ago, virtue signaling how appalled you are by it while also profiting off it because sports makes money for all of us.

I still believe what I said, and it's just not the collective outrage that it was. When live golf- That's because the sportswashing of the money was successful. That's why. I know. They bought what they wanted to buy, which is the extinguishing of us always talking about the bone-sawing of a jury.

You can't follow certain mainstream sports without having to watch something emanating from Riyadh or Jeff.

Agreed, because that's where all the money is. I get that. Tennis, golf, wrestling, all of it is over there. It doesn't mean we can't condemn it. It doesn't mean that it's okay.

But it's not really condemnation, though, the way that that's not what's happening anymore. It's been successfully sportswashed. This just came to comedy recently, and a few people weren't aware of what the ramifications It would be that Bill Burr among them, a whole bunch of people, as Chapelle does a news special where he's explaining, Well, we've killed journalists in Palestine as well. He makes the joke. I thought we weren't counting anymore for making the same point you guys are making about America has no moral high grounds here. But it's been successfully sportswashed, the blood money, over the last five years. We yelled a lot about Liv and Mickelson and then just stopped doing it because the money- Brooks Kepka, welcome back. The oil money did buy everyone off. Everyone got bought off by the oil money.

It's so American to silo Saudi Arabia and judge them. We just had Pablo on who was reporting on a story about how the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies is involved in Russian drones. We got to look at ourselves here a little bit.

Okay, so let me bring it back to that for a second. And forgive me because I I do know, and the audience has made it known at every turn, and this is a bit conflicting to me because I also know that the audience rides with us because many people do care about the stuff that we're talking about and funding, because the work that Pablo Tori is doing is good, it's expensive, and it's not anything that anyone else in this space is doing. When I ask Pablo and us, how do we get that Hunterbrooke story in front of people in a way that isn't as easy as, Oh, look, Kawhi and the Clippers might have done this, or sports gambling might have this, things that everyone can understand. When I make it war against foreigners that is literally life and death, and I present to you, how do I get in front of people on ESPN Hey, the Memphis grizzly's owner. We talk a lot about John, who they're benching, and just bullshit. The Memphis grizzly's owner, through six months of independent journalistic investigation that is harder to do today than it's been at any time by Hunterbrooke, How do I get that in front of people and make the sports media talk about something difficult because the debate shows aren't going to do this one?

Editorially, though, if that comes across your desk, we may put a blurb on there, but I don't think there's going to be interest in that. You're going to have far more interest in where John Morant is going right now, because when people go to their stories about the Memphis Grizzlies, they're looking for a departure. They're not looking to be reminded of how bad things are. Oh, here's another bad thing. So I can get further depressed. Yeah, I can think about Bonsal's, or I can think about how Rusev is going to do in the Royal Rumble.

Roman Reines plus 175 to win the Rumble. He's the favorite, Dan.

Journalism is not supposed to be, It's supposed to be governed by, how do I get the clicks? It's supposed to be governed by, how do you follow truth in the name of facts pointing out to people injustices. It's how it dies.

You do realize- How do you amplify the truth? Because the truth is out there. Shout out to the X-Files. But Pablo is reporting on that. These things come across newsrooms, and an editor will sit with his staff and pousse whether or not they run with it, whether or not it's a 30-second blurb on their NBA Studio show or a feature that they do.

For me, it's okay, the grizzly's owner is committing a crime of morality, perhaps.

Well, hold on a second, though. As alleged by Hunterbrooke, and it wouldn't be merely a crime of morality. The way that Pablo set this up, we're talking about aiding with war crimes. It's not just a crime of morality.

Okay, but in a report like this, I always wait a heartbeat for the repercussion. Is the US government going to do something about this owner? Is Adam Silver going to do something about this owner? Adam Silver. Are there any Parameters whatsoever governing what owners can do.

The only way your questions get answered is if the journalism gets amplified.

Obviously.

It can't just be, We skip past this six hours from now because it's the trade deadline talk. You have to keep putting this on Silver's desk.

I didn't say that it wasn't. Don't act like I'm being adversary here. But I'm saying, what will the repercussion be?

You're sitting it out as somebody who's got a journalistic platform saying, I'm going to wait for Silver to handle it. I hope- I'm asking you, how do we get this amplified? Because it's difficult work to do.

I hope the Miami Harold follows this up and puts it on their front page. No, you don't.

That's not fair. He's doing the exact same thing you're doing. What you're doing isn't this huge suffering. You're saying, someone talk about this. He's cosigning.

No, I'm actually trying to fund the work with everything we're doing around Understood. That's different. I'm legitimately asking you guys the question of, how do you keep this alive when you're going to tell me people aren't that interested in it? I'm like, they should and need to be. That's the importance of the work.

I would like to think the US government has an interest in this report.

That's hilarious. This US government caring about helping Russia, this Administration?

Here's the problem. This is the problem.

Adam Silver is more likely to punish him than the US government.

I'm not disagreeing with you, which is sad. I mean, ostensibly, we're pro-Ukraine in this war that Russia instigated, but we also know that Trump has a relationship with Putin that, dare I say, is a little bit cozier than we'd all like, perhaps. So what's going to happen?

I was really filled with qualifiers that are unnecessary. Okay. Honestly, the way the standard has dropped so that you have to end into those waters with a relationship with Putin is maybe close. It's a relationship with Putin. He's trying to take over. We've gone really soft.

Dan just used the move that I use with my daughter whenever she questions anything. I'm like, Hey, I pay for everything around here. You owe nothing. That's always such a good move. You owe nothing.

Now, it show me up. We pay for... No, look. The royal we.

Trump has also had meetings with Zelensky in the White House. Ostensibly, we favor Ukraine in this war. That's why I think the government needs to do something.

Look what you got him doing now. You're proud of yourself? Look what you got Greg Cody doing. You got him talking about Ukraine. God.

Gunther plus 200 to win the Rumbles.

Breaking news out of Fort Lauderdale. This is from Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Tomas Nosik, Joni Gajovitch, Dimitri Kulikow and Alexander Barkoff on the ice today.

That's what I'm talking about.

Doing stick and punt drills following the Panthers morning skate.

We are honestly close to the end of the end of the back. I appreciate a lot of those guys are champions. Could have just led with Barkoff.

That's the news I've been waiting for.

Got excited.

So Barkoff is the punchline.

There it is. That's what I'm talking about.

What do they mean by that? How long until he plays?

Probably in another couple of months.

You know what I mean, Dan?

Second round of the playoff. You know what I mean?

It's bad news for the rest of the league.

He said a couple of months. Did you hear him say probably a couple of months? It's all happening.

But before the playoff, before the dead. Before the play.

Before the play. Before the play. That's good. About to trade for Panarin. That's good.

He said second round of the play.

Do you think it's going to be AJ Style's last match? I'm not ready to say goodbye.

I think AJ is going to win.

You think he's going to win? I think he's going to win. And let all the air out of this Gunther thing?

I think Gunther then wins the Rumble.

But wait, no, he's like this legend killer. He can't retire John cena and then be like- If he wins the Rumble, he main events, wrestling, nobody's going to care that he lost AJ Style. He needs to be a believable monster that also retires Brock Lesner. He can't trip up against undersized heavyweight.

Joe braided?

It's an odd one.